Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Chubby Girls, Pudding & Girdles: Print Ads from 'Mad Men' Era

"From ads for Jell-O and Lifesavers, to shampoo brand Head and Shoulders and the dish-washing brand, Ivory Liquid, made sure women knew the importance of staying svelte, complicit and clean."

'Made sure women knew??'

Uh, huh. As if appealing to human vanity, status or basic hygiene simply popped out of the cultural void, untethered to history or nature.

Has advertising changed all that much? Judging from the cover photos and headlines emblazoned on today's 'liberated' woman fashion, folly, and romance magazines, polluting every grocer's checkout aisle, not much has changed in 60 years - except the overt, hyper-sexualized imagery. IE: men are still attracted to youth & beauty, just as women are still attracted to strength & security.

And each demographic group spends billions of dollars each year primping, preening, posturing and proposing to the other in the perennial quest for amore`.